Published 4:00 am, Saturday, January 18, 2003

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Laci Rocha Peterson of Modesto, Calif., is shown in a recent undated photo. Peterson, 27, eight months pregnant, was last seen walking her dog in a Modesto park on Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2002, and was reported missing by her husband, Scott Peterson, after he returned home from a fishing trip. Their dog was found Tuesday by a neighbor, with its leash still attached. (AP Photo/Modesto Bee) less

Laci Rocha Peterson of Modesto, Calif., is shown in a recent undated photo. Peterson, 27, eight months pregnant, was last seen walking her dog in a Modesto park on Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2002, and was reported ... more

The family of a pregnant Modesto woman missing since Christmas Eve believe her husband was having an affair and then lied about it and "possibly other things as well," a family spokeswoman said Friday.

The statements were an abrupt turnabout for Laci Peterson's family, which had adamantly defended her husband, Scott Peterson, and described the couple's five-year marriage as perfect.

"The family is asking Scott to tell everything he knows and to fully cooperate with the Modesto Police Department," she said. "If Scott has nothing to hide, they ask him to prove that."

A local newspaper on Friday also reported unsubstantiated claims from one relative that police told the family Scott Peterson took out a $250,000 life insurance policy on his 27-year-old wife last summer after she became pregnant.

Kim Petersen declined to comment on the insurance policy but disputed another claim in the Modesto Bee that police told the family they think Scott Peterson is responsible for his wife's disappearance.

"They did not tell them that," Petersen said.

Scott Peterson, who has declined media interviews for weeks, could not be reached for comment. But he told a television station that the reports "were a bunch of lies."

Detective Doug Ridenour, a Police Department spokesman, said Friday he would "not deny or confirm any reports."

"We have not eliminated Scott Peterson as a person in this investigation," he said. But "we have no pending arrests and no body."

He said investigators continued an "in-depth search of both land and water" in areas surrounding Stanislaus County on Friday.

According to police, Laci Peterson -- who is due to give birth to the couple's first child, a boy, on Feb. 10 -- was last seen by her husband the morning of Dec. 24. Peterson told detectives his wife was preparing to walk their golden retriever in a nearby park when he left that morning to go fishing alone at the Berkeley Marina.

His wife was gone when he returned, he said, and family members reported her missing. A neighbor had found the dog wandering the neighborhood that morning, trailing its leash.

Searchers searched the waters off the Berkeley Marina for three days last week but found no body.

Police seized Scott Peterson's aluminum boat and pickup truck, as well as two computers and other items from the couple's home.

Police have said Scott Peterson is not cooperating fully and have released photos of his boat and truck, asking for the public's help to verify his whereabouts before the disappearance.

Laci's father, Dennis Rocha of Escalon, said Friday that he was "pretty shook up" by the news but declined to comment further.

Scott Peterson's mother, Jackie Peterson, said the allegations are "all hearsay and innuendo."

"There is no way on God's earth Scott had anything to do with her disappearance," she said. "I don't believe the police anymore, and I don't believe the media."

Peterson said she had not talked to her son or Laci Peterson's family since the allegations surfaced Thursday.

She said she had "no knowledge" of an affair or recent life insurance policy. She said that she had heard the photos were of her son dancing with another woman, and that Scott and Laci Peterson attended a lot of parties.

As for the life insurance policy, "Any responsible person would have that," she said.

Kim Petersen said police approached Laci Peterson's family Wednesday because they knew information was going to be revealed in Thursday's National Enquirer.

"Scott told him no, and Ron believed him. Now, however, they believe he has lied to them about this and possibly other things as well," she said.

The Laci Peterson volunteer search center at the Modesto Red Lion Inn, which registered 2,200 volunteers since it opened Dec. 26, was closed for good on Thursday. Petersen said volunteers were planning to close next week "because we feel we've accomplished the goal of getting her picture and name out there."

But the closure was moved up because the frenzy surrounding the latest revelations would have made it impossible for volunteers to work, she said.

"It's pretty devastating. You work so hard for something," said one volunteer who had been a regular at the center since the day it opened and who asked not to be named. "For any family member to be involved in something like that would be terrible. I pray it's not true."

Plans for a one-day event in Los Angeles on Sunday to draw attention to the case also were scrapped once the Modesto center was closed, said Brad Saltzman,

general manager of the Red Lion and a participant in the volunteer effort.

"Family, friends and volunteers are still going to search for Laci. She's out there somewhere," Saltzman said. Scott Peterson "allegedly being unfaithful does not equate to him being involved in Laci's disappearance."